Chapter Twenty-Seven
...
Cade struggled with the boy in his arms.
Merrick had done nothing but kick and scream and wriggling and holler to the sky, pointing and reaching for heavens after the hatch to the main ship had swallowed the miniature one, and his sobs were so violent Cade was worried the boy would through himself into a seizure. Bryce had fallen to his knees, on the asphalt, looking to the sky as well; his heart in his eyes, which had overpoured tears onto his face. He could see the rage on his face. Tessa just stood, coldly, arms crossed over her chest, watching Merrick, tears pouring down her face as well.
"Let me go!" Merrick was screaming, "LET me down, CADE! Let me goooo!" His voice was choked with the sobs of grief, his face bright red and tear-stained. Finally, he began kicking his feet, where they slammed into Cade's midsection. He doubled over, released the boy, when Bryce immediately swooped up beside him, draping one of Cade's arm around his shoulders for support. Pain rocketed from his stomach and into his lungs, as he lifted his head to watch Merrick tear down the road, in the general direction of the ship, Tessa bolting after him. "MA! Come back, MOMMA! Optimus!" Tessa grabbed onto his wrist, pulled him back, and stepped to the front of him him, kneeling. She began to talk to him, the boy still yet shaking wildly still, until he fell into her and wrapped his arms around her neck. Merrick buried his face into her shoulder and screamed like only little boys could.
It was the most shattering thing Cade had experienced since Emily's death.
Rage overcame him—rage that he could only describe as loyalty, and determination. It seized his soul like a violent beast, clutching him and unwilling to let go. His heart burned in his chance, and for a minute he thought how unfair this all was, having another woman taken away from him. But, then he realized, as the Autobots came roaring back, that Mira had never been his to have.
Bumblebee screeched to a stop behind them, smoke from his tires wafting their direction and carrying the scent of rubber and tar. He quickly transformed, and took a knee behind them, as Bryce gently dropped Cade's arm after observing that he could stand. He turned to Bumblebee, and the yellow bot extended a hand on the tar and offered it to Bryce. He did not hesitate, and stumbled into it, falling to his knees and resting his arm on the bot's hand—letting his forehead hit the metal with a resounding crack, and began to sob.
"She's my sister, Bumblebee!" He screamed now, Bumblebee tilting his head to the side and quirking and clicking his sympathies, pain overtaking his optics. Cade watched the mech, filled with compassion and obviously heartbroken, as he took his other hand an wrapped it around Bryce's body, pulling him close as if in a tender, giant hug. "She's….my sister…" was all Bryce could say through a broken, shaky voice.
"I know, compadre," the radio came to life with a gentle sigh, "don't worry, we'll get her get her back—we have to get her back!"
The other Autobots seized the opportunity for transformation, and Tessa brought little Merrick back, hand in his. He swiped at his wet face, and ran his wrist under his nose, the little boy's eyes already puffy and red from intense crying. They stopped next to Cade, and the boy released Tessa's hand, walking straight into Cade's legs and wrapping his arms around them, resting his head against his stomach and sniffling, his face contorted into almost a painful expression. Cade, shooting a look to Tessa who was nodding at him, wrapped his arms securely around the boy and rubbed his shoulders.
"They're never comin' back, are they?" Merrick asked, his voice squeaky. Cade, now looking to the Autobots before him—Drift, Crosshairs, and Hound—for help. They all shared a look before looking at the boy, compassion emanating from their eyes, as well as desperation and confusion. They were just as much at a loss with Optimus being gone and unable to lead them, and Cade realized their position.
With both Mira and Optimus gone, that left a bunch of answered questions. They rest of them did not stand a chance against that new robot—Galvatron, was that his name?—or anything else that KSI had planned, because Cade knew this wasn't over. Something about the secrecy, something about the insidiousness of Joyce's conversation with Optimus made him think there was something deeper going on here, something they would need both Optimus and Mira for—because obviously they were important, otherwise what would that bounty hunter want with them?
"Yes," Cade said, strongly, putting his on his best brave face, "they'll be back—" he looked at the three before him, then over his shoulder at Bumblebee. "—because we're getting them back."
Crosshairs immediately intercepted his thought, "Oh, are we now?" He bent to look at Cade with a look of disbelief, mixed with disgust, "Who died and made you the Prime around here? I don't take my orders from humans," he waved Cade off, then scowled at him "because if I did, I'd be dead."
Bumblebee pointed a finger at him, and whizzed ferociously, and Crosshairs shook his head, "Nu-uh, bumblebebrain," he waved a finger at Bumblebee warningly, "I ain't takin' orders from a human! And surely not from you either, wuss!"
This enraged the Camaro, who gently shoved Bryce off his hand, and stomped past him towards Crosshairs. His new battle-mask fell into place, and he reared back to pop Crosshairs in the mouth with a punch. Crosshairs whipped an arm out, grabbed Bumblebee's wrist, and laughed. "You think you pop me one,'Bee? Let's see you actually try." Bumblebee, enraged again, released a shot of hot air from his systems.
"This kid's about to kick your—"
Almost instantly, Merrick dashed between the two quarreling bots. Hands thrusting into the air, all three of the other humans bolted for him in panic. "STOP IT!" He screamed up at them. This dropped both mech's attention to the ground, and Crosshairs roughly released Bumblebee's arm. "Don't fight! Please!" Crosshairs and Bumblebee each took a step backwards, "I have something to say, alright?" The tone of the six-year-old was entirely serious, "and I'm asking nicely."
Drift intercepted the boy, taking a knee and dropping a hand for him. Merrick quickly scrambled onto it, and Drift scowled at the other two mech's, rising now. He lifted his hand to his shoulder, where Merrick took a seat, legs dangling over the plating there, "I suggest you two follow the boy's example. He seems to have much more maturity and charisma than the two of you combined," he then shifted his optics to the side to look at Merrick, "what are your thoughts, young one?"
Merrick looked down and twisted his hands together, perhaps nervously, "We have to get my Mom back, and Optimus," he began quietly. Hound bombarded his way into their circle, his triple mini-gun braced against his wrist, ever still puffing on his "cigar". They watched the boy, and waited, "Mom is all I got left. If we don't get her back, then—then I'm all by myself." He looked up at all of them, now entirely eye-level. "The bad guys already took my Daddy away. I don't want them to take my Momma, and I surely don't want them to take Uncle Optimus," this surprised the entire group, where Bumblebee's mouth dropped open in surprise, "because if he's gone, then you guys are all alone too."
This resonated with the group, and Cade smiled up at Merrick, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding firmly once. The kid at gutspa, that was for sure, and he had words—like his Mom. He was proud of the boy, able to take on the galaxy's toughest army with his words, and he obviously has earned their attention, if not respect, because Crosshairs sighed dramatically.
"Why does he have to be just like his mother?" He shrugged his shoulder and looked up to the sky. "It just isn't even fair—we don't need another Mira around."
Hound looked over his shoulder, to where Lockdown's spacecraft was pushing aside the clouds, heading back towards the city. He sighed, looked back to his group, and removed the cigar from his mouth, and spoke, "The sparklin' has a point," he said gruffly, "if we don't get Mira and Optimus back, we're screwed out the aft. Besides, Lockdown's gunna find out about the Shield, if he already hasn't, and then that's worse news than the latter."
Drift folded his hands together, smiling almost cheekily at Merrick, "I agree. We must intercept the ship and get Mira, as well as Optimus, back."
Crosshairs facepalmed, bringing out his weapon, and puffed out a breath, "A'ight, a'ight, I get it, I get it. I'm in. So," they all looked down at Cade, "what's the play then, brainiac?"
…
There were two cars readied outside KSI, and Attinger slipped into the Cadillac. Savoy took the Range Rover behind him, both splitting off in opposite directions. The communication link in his ear crackled to life as he readied his computer.
"Lockdown has the girl, and the big guy," Savoy confirmed, "he's en-route now. I'll prep a chopper and prepare for interception."
Attinger nodded to the driver, who had asked if they were traveling to the city's biggest—and most open—park, where Lockdown had instructions to tether the ship right off the harbor, "Go."
"With pleasure."
…
The dropship fell onto the landing pad expertly, as if it had done it a thousand times before. Mira didn't doubt it hadn't, since Lockdown was in the habit of invading planets and taking prizes, as were most bounty hunters and mercenaries. There was a resounding clang, as well as a sharp thunk as Optimus hit the ground before them. Lockdown released the hatch and seized her yet again, this time roughly, and stepped out of the dropship.
Mira took the moment to take in the inner workings of the ship. It was huge—probably nearly 100 feet tall, the ceilings a cathedral of black twisting metals and circuits. Light pierced through the metal piecings, and into the room, but the ship was lighted with some type of energy source. The landing pad connected to a pathway, which ran across the entire ship: before them was a fork, one path going left and deep into the ship, where a flame was teeming with rage and mechanical arms were dropping things into what she assumed to be a trash burning system. The other pathway mazed around the ship in a petrifyingly dizzy array.
The inside of the spacecraft was like a city—there was stations everywhere, as well as what appeared to be observation chambers that looked like cylindrical tubes coming up from the ground. There was screams, distant cries, grunting and frantic wailing; as well as movement coming from the first line of those chambers, where six of them were sitting side by side along the pathway. Mira, horrified, saw movement in them and realized they were cages, housing living, breathing beings. Her stomach contorted, and she thought for a moment she would throw up.
The entire scenario was surreal—Mira had never seen any type of Cybertronian craft; she'd never been aboard one. It was fantastically beautiful, and large, as well as terrifying. She was a mixture of curiosity, amazement, fear, and confusion as she couldn't take in the entire building without a million questions circling her brain. Above them was a system of path, again, met with hugely thick cables glowing and teeming with life, perhaps providing power to the engines and the other system the ship required for functionality. Upon those walkways she saw guards, with guns—Lockdown's loyals, watching her with blank expressions, their faces shielded with visors much like Lockdown's.
There was squealing and rolling, and Mira looked down to see four garage-crawler like beings roll up to Optimus, and shoot tethers into him. Then, above them, the ceiling groaned and shifted apart, and a mechanical arm extended down to them and removed the cyberformed net from around Prime's body—who was coherent now, seemingly not in any pain, but still paralyzed on the floor. He must've been shot with some type of paralytic EMP blast from Lockdown, and that was all Mira could do to account for the incident.
The crawlers then pushed forward, and the pathway transformed below Optimus, into what appeared to be like a freight-cart, hovering along the pathway. Now he was gliding across the walkway, looking around, Lockdown right behind him with Mira still in his thick grasp. She pressed her hands into Lockdown's fist, trying to lean forward to see Optimus fully. The crawlers teamed on.
"Remember this ship, Prime?" Lockdown chuckled wickedly, "so beautifully crafted for you Knights, you great crusaders. I commandeered it, it's my personal prison now." The last statement flew from his tongue like daggers and she glared at him.
"Seems more like a prison to them then it is to you," she referred to the prisoners, who shook and screamed in their cages, rattling them violently for release.
Lockdown snarled at her, "Get used of the idea, femme," he spat, "you'll be joining your detainees momentarily."
They made their way through the ship, Mira's heart alive with thoughts, panic, and worry. She thought of Merrick and the others, how they were leaving them behind. She wondered what they were planning, if they were going to attempt a rescue. Surely they would, The Autobots were not about to leave their leader to die aboard this death vessel. She then wondered if their attempt would be successful or not.
She could only pray they would be.
